Australian band The Amity Affliction — Joel Birch [vocals], Ahren Stringer [vocals, bass], Dan Brown [lead guitar], and Joe Longobardi [drums] — will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of their beloved and iconic album Let The Ocean Take Me by releasing Let The Ocean Take Me (Redux) on September 27 via Pure Noise.
Preorder at the Pure Noise webshop.
The new version is a total re-recording of the original, which arrived in June 2014.
Today, the band has shared “My Father’s Son (Redux).”
“We wouldn’t be anywhere near where we are today without this album and the way it resonated with people around the world,” says Birch about the record’s long-standing legacy. “This is the foundation of our band, and we owe everything we have to all of the people who listened to it and came out to our shows and continues to this day to show their love to us. This is the greatest blessing — thank you.”
Let the Ocean Take Me was such a watershed moment for The Amity Affliction, since it connected them on a marrow-deep level with fans, thanks to the themes it addressed and topics it tackled, which are still potent to this day. Birch’s personal demons were the source material that he mined for the album and that is precisely why it strikes such a chord.
“The album is almost entirely dedicated to addiction and the effects it had on my life and mental health,” Birch maintains. “The strangest thing while rerecording this was reading the words and then reflecting on life since then, this album was the catalyst for us touring the world and turning what was just a really fun time into a career, from kids to adults, from haphazardly throwing together songs to the place where we’re at now where we feel like we put more purpose into everything we create.”
He continues, “I started drinking again almost immediately after this album was finished and almost blew up everything I held dear, so the album is a warning of sorts, for myself and for anyone else out there struggling with addiction. I should have been able to read what I wrote and perform these songs and have it reinforce the very thing I had written about, but addiction is a soul crusher and just swallowed me up and spat me out.”
Birch is also frank about the band’s decision to re-do the record because of the ways in which the music business operates.
“This is a chance to have some ownership over our own songs, something that we didn’t have while with our old label,” the singer explains. “Let this be the canary in the coal mine for younger bands; in this day and age, you can find ethical and equitable deals, you don’t need to believe the bullshit larger labels will feed you, and you can maintain control over your masters and own your own songs. Thankfully, we’ve always told people to get fucked when they’ve tried to meddle in our music or this could have been even worse. In any case, I hope that you guys enjoy this and give it a thrashing. We are personally much happier with this new recreation.”
Tracklisting:
“Pittsburgh (Redux)”
“Lost & Fading (Redux)”
“Don’t Lean On Me (Redux)”
“The Weigh Down (Redux)”
“Never Alone (Redux)”
“Death’s Hand (Redux)”
“FML (Redux)”
“My Father’s Son (Redux)”
“Forest Fire (Redux)”
“Give It All (Redux)”
“My Father’s Son (Redux)”: